


Homecoming

by allfireburns



Category: Doctor Who, Torchwood
Genre: Episode Tag, Gen, Happy Ending, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2009-11-20
Updated: 2009-11-20
Packaged: 2017-10-03 11:02:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allfireburns/pseuds/allfireburns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack comes home to a seemingly empty Hub.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homecoming

The tourist information center was empty as Jack nudged the door open, and stepped inside. Well, not exactly _empty_ \- the door was half hanging from its hinges, probably courtesy of the Dalek, and the wind had picked up papers, strewn them across the desk and the floor. Jack silently wished Ianto good luck cleaning it up. But it was silent and still, and there was certainly no one _here_. He reached around the desk and hit the button to open the inside set of doors, strangely comforted by the familiar sound of gears clanking into place, and less comforted by the fact that the alarms didn't go off. Something must have gotten broken somewhere in the chaos.

It was hard to miss the Dalek sitting in the doorway between hall and the Hub proper. Half a Dalek, really, the top of the armor blown off, the creature inside scorched and blackened and _really_ unpleasant smelling... That would be even less fun to clean up than the papers in the tourist center.

Jack stopped beside it anyway, running a hand along the armor. It felt cool and dead under his fingers, hardly the nightmare creature he'd remembered from the Game Station. Just a heap of scrap metal with some charred meat inside.

_"21st century, Jack. Everything's gonna change. And we're not ready."_

Was this what Alex had meant, what he was trying to save his team from? Davros, the Daleks, all the stars gone from the sky... But then, he asked himself that during the year with the Master too. That was the problem with prophecies, Jack reflected. Ambiguity did no one any favors, and generally led to nothing but paranoia. And occasionally Ianto reading from the Bible and making everyone nervous, and no one wanted that.

He jerked his hand from the Dalek casing and stepped into the Hub, over just as many scattered papers as in the tourist center, plenty of bullets that must have clattered to the ground with the time lock blew... and no Ianto and Gwen. He wasn't surprised, really - he called from London before catching a train, told them not to wait up for him, and Gwen, at least, had a husband who probably wanted to celebrate the world not ending - but he told them he was coming back. Coming back after the near end of the world was always more satisfying with a proper reunion.

Jack wandered a little further into the Hub, toward his office. There was a gun set on the coffee table by the couch, probably put down and forgotten - he grabbed it on his way, so it could be put up properly. Myfanwy made a sound from her cage that sounded like irritated grumbling, though pteranodons were not creatures best evolved to make such a sound. Jack glanced up with a grin, because somehow, whenever something upset her, she _always_ sounded like she blamed him. His footsteps echoed, along with the sound of dripping water, in the quiet Hub. Familiar sounds he'd thought he might never hear again.

He just reached the threshold of his office when the sound of laughter reached him, filtering down by the boardroom. Gwen's, shortly followed by Ianto's, and he turned with a smile, starting toward the stairs.

He'd told them not to wait up. Should have known they would anyway.


End file.
